


And Life Is Yours To Miss

by sevenall



Series: Mercy Street [8]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Mercy Street AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 19:19:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6623035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenall/pseuds/sevenall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Though he'd never ever admit it, he's watched "Steel Magnolias".</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Life Is Yours To Miss

Ikkaku carries four glucogen tablet wherever he goes. Oh, it's unlikely that he'll ever need all four, but he's notoriously clumsy; there's no telling how many he might drop when he rips the package open. He keeps them in his wallet, though separate from the condoms (banana and strawberry, because he's vanilla like that), and there's nothing in the world he's less willing to give up. Well, maybe Hozikumaru's keys, but only if Nemu is carrying her own stash.

Retsu-nee has some books on diabetes and Tetsu spent a weekend or so explaining selected parts of them. Then, because Tetsu thought Ikkaku should know how, they practiced the use of an autoinjector on each other. They had bruises on their thighs and stomachs for days and the Boss thought they'd been trying out some new designer drug. To Tetsu's credit, he didn't break down and tell the truth until Ikkaku did.

When he asked, Nemu showed him how to read her monitor and how to measure blood glucose, his or hers. Strangely, he found it much more difficult to prick his finger than to jam a needle into his thigh, but she didn't laugh at him. She doesn't understands his interest in the disease she still thinks of as embarrassing and shameful, but to be truthful, most of the time, neither does he.

From what he can see, Nemu has her disease under control. She eats right, monitors her blood sugar and calculates her insulin doses meticulously, she exercises and takes good care of herself. And it's not like he needs to carry the tablets for her, she usually brings her own snack and there are delis and convenience stores about everywhere they go. A packet of orange juice is never more than five minutes away, less if he doesn't pay, but just takes off with it. But he knows what can happen, he's read the books. He knows about the risks for heart and kidney disease, blindness and nerve damage. He knows about seizures and diabetic comas and though he'd never ever admit it, he's watched "Steel Magnolias". And so he carries the four tablets around, even when she's not with him at all, like a talisman against evil, against loss.

THE END


End file.
